I posed this question on the small bore forum, reguarding my 220 swift, and now I am wanting your opinions on the differences of these two primers for my other calibers. (308, 30-06, 7mm mag, 280AI, 300RUM, 6.5-06AI, etc)

I have decided to quit buying/building rifles for a year, and do nothing but load developement

I use Federal GM primers for all of my reloading. I don't know if it makes that much of a diffrence over a standerd Federal, but its only a couple more dollars a thousand, so why not.

Jim

I have never done a side by side comparison but I always use CCI BR. I mostly reload for the .223 and 22-250 so these are not large capacity cases. Some guys claim real good results with magnum primers and ball powders but I have never had a problem using BR primers with ball powders in these small cases. Benchrest shooters seem to favor the Federal match primers, but then again those are generally small cases. The BR primers have also worked real well for me in the .270,.308 and 30-06.

I've had better results with Federal over CCI, both in std and match configurations.

If you're using Varget, go with the CCI-BR2's... They definitely make an accuracy difference with Varget...

Dan

There are so many different variables involved that there is no such thing as a "one best" primer, even for a certain caliber. A primer that renders the best accuracy with one powder may not achieve the best accuracy when using a different powder.

Pick one primer to use, develop your load, and if you can't get the accuracy with it you want, try a different primer.

Of the variables in load development, primer brand generally has far less bearing on accuracy than bullet type, powder type, charge weight, and bullet seating depth.

Agree totally with Norma. Buy them both. Primers are cheap. Then develop a load and switch. The barrel will tell you.

I ALWAYS start off with Federal and about 75% of the time that's where I end up. But the last thing I do in load development is try a half dozen different primers with the same load. Rarely there is a better primer, which is the reason I usually end up with what I started.

Thanks to all who responded. I will try both brands and make my determination.

In the late '60's, in Indiana I bought 1000 "SACMAG" LR primers from the old Sullivan Arms Corporation. With these primers, I loaded some of the most accurate ammo I have ever been able to put together. Of course, this company, and its' primers, is long gone. But I have found various Federal primers that generally give me almost as good accuracy in my loads these days, (some even better), almost exclusively for both rifles and pistols.